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Growth in private sector employment

The job market in the private sector continues to flourish, despite little wage growth, research has found.

Research undertaken by the CBI and Harvey Nash Employment shows that professional and highly skilled staff are benefiting particularly from the economic growth. However, public sector recruitment is being scaled back under government austerity measures.

The results also show that 29% of employers intend to increase permanent recruitment in the next six months, while pay freezes have remained steady at 16%. In the public sector, 83% of organisations are operating pay freezes.

For many employers it is difficult to find a balance between offering either modest awards or stopping pay rises for essential staff, which prevents much wage inflation in the economy.

John Cridland, CBI Director-General said: “The pay and recruitment freezes that were commonplace in the private sector during the depths of the recession have now migrated to the public sector.

“However, we remain confident that private sector growth can more than compensate for job losses in the public sector.”

The challenge for the government will now be in ensuring that public sector workers develop their own skills so they can move easily into private sector roles.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .